Gerald Cartwright disappeared six years ago but his body isn’t found until his son starts renovation work on the family home. Gerald was still alive when he was bricked up behind a new wall…
Firewatching is the first book in the DS Adam Tyler series of police procedurals.
Adam Tyler struggles to fit in at work. He leads on cold cases so is separate from his colleagues who run active investigations. He is gay and his police officer father killed himself, both of which also put him at odds with his colleagues. On this case though, Adam needs the team to put personal differences aside and focus on working together to catch a killer. He works alongside an ambitious young constable who wants to get into CID but the pair have a bumpy working relationship.
Added to Adam’s troubles is the fact that Gerald Cartwright’s son Oscar is a suspect. Adam and Oscar had a one night stand the night before the discovery of the body and now Adam needs to put his conflicted emotions to one side to find the truth. The murder of Gerald is linked with a series of arson attacks and readers are also aware that two old ladies are being blackmailed. There are multiple layers for Adam to consider and I was kept guessing until the end.
There are no chapters as such, instead the book is divided into days. This means that the chronology of the plot is meticulous and detailed, and the pace is rather slow at first. There are breaks as the narrative moves between the experience of various characters, showing the investigation as well potential suspects. Each day starts with an anonymous ‘post’ by someone obsessed with fire and the connection to the main plot is not revealed until later.
I really liked Adam’s character. He has a lot of depth and emotional baggage but his career means a lot to him so he wants to succeed and prove himself. He struggles socially and emotionally which demonstrates a vulnerable side. I enjoyed his friend’s attempts to bring him out of his shell and accept and celebrate his homosexuality as a key component of his persona. I thought that the homophobic jibes experienced by Adam were unpleasant but sadly they felt authentic.
Firewatching is an enjoyable start to a new series with a strong lead character.
Book blurb:
A police procedural introducing Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler, a cold case reviewer who lands a high-profile murder investigation, only to find the main suspect is his recent one-night stand . . .
When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he’d gone on the run from his creditors. But then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright’s burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive.
As the sole representative of South Yorkshire’s Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but he knows this is the case that might finally kick start his floundering career. Luckily, he already has a suspect. Unluckily, that suspect is Cartwright’s son, the man Tyler slept with the night before.
Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force. Soon their investigation will come up against close-lipped townsfolk, an elderly woman with dementia who’s receiving mysterious threats referencing a past she can’t remember, and an escalating series of conflagrations set by a troubled soul intent on watching the world burn . . .
The world is coming out of lockdown. Smith is bored and not had any murders to investigate for months as criminals stay indoors. Now a clever killer is on the loose, murdering women and leaving their portraits behind…
The Painter is the 28th book in the DS Jason Smith series set in York.
A woman is killed in her own home and her blood is used to add the final brushstrokes to her portrait. More women are murdered and Smith is sure that the paintings contain a clue about the next victim so there is a frantic hunt to work out their identity before they can be harmed.
Once again there is a personal element in the case and Smith’s relationships with his family, neighbours and colleages are crucial to the plot development. I love Smith’s character and the way he is passionate about catching the killer. His boredom at the beginning made me smile as did his emotional attachment to his old banger of a car.
The plot races along and is dialogue driven so the interactions spring to life. There are plenty of twists and lots of victims so the police have their work cut out for them. Chapters are short so it is tempting to read just one more and as always the book finishes too soon: I want more!
The Painter is another briliant instalment in this series.
THE PAINTER (Detective Jason Smith #28) by Stewart Giles
From bestselling author: Stewart Giles comes another brilliant addition to the Detective Jason Smith series.
The Painter is the weirdest serial killer Smith has ever come across.
Detective Smith is bored. Lockdown has kept crime at bay, so when a call comes in about a brutal murder in a house not far from where he lives, he’s wide awake.
A woman has been brutally murdered – she has been left on display with a portrait of the scene on her lap.
Two days later, Smith receives an email telling him him the details of the next victim were in the painting.
When two more women are killed and the emails keep coming, Smith is running out of ideas.
The Painter has promised to keep on killing until Smith wakes up enough to see what has been staring him in the face the whole time.
It’s a case that Smith will have nightmares about for the rest of his life.
What readers are saying about THE PAINTER:
I loved all the action packed drama which is gripping and also liked how the killer communicated with Smith during the investigation. – CAROL
I adore this series. Stewart has the knack of grabbing the reader from the very beginning and not letting go. Jason has a wry sense of humour about him which eases the tension in a murder investigation and makes for a more light-hearted read. It’s twisty, it’s clever and it’s captivating. – MISFITS FARM
Stewart is a prolific writer and his books are always gripping, fascinating and a little dark, although with traces of humour. He has a very active imagination. Despite being dark, I find them easy reads and really enjoyable. – MAUREEN
A very intriguing read with many things going on one of which is a locked room which all adds interest and intrigue to the story. Many red herrings and curve balls certainly kept my brain ticking over. – AMAZON REVIEWER
Stewart Giles – Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.
Twitter: @stewartgiles
TRIGGER WARNING: gang violence, sexual violence
Lydia sees her whole family killed by a drugs gang except for her eight year old son Luca. Their only hope for survival is to travel to the United States where she has an uncle. But the drugs cartel boss won’t rest until she is found and she faces a momentous and possibly deadly journey across the border…
American Dirt is a gritty and tragic book about a woman’s journey across Mexico to escape a drugs cartel boss.
This book was my bookclub’s choice for October last year but I really didn’t fancy it from the blurb. However, everyone was overwhelmingly positive so I decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did.
The majority of the book is written to show Lydia and Luca’s journey but also includes some flashback or reflections about the past. The characters are vividly portrayed and their emotion is raw. Danger looms constantly and the fear was palpable. This was particularly effective in conveying the mother’s love and determination to save her son at any cost.
Initially I found the book very powerful and was immersed in Lydia’s journey. However, I felt the middle of the book was a little dull and repetitive. The misery and danger were quite unrelenting which was not enjoyable. I would have liked more from the epilogue, to know how the pair fared (no spoilers!)
American Dirt is a vivid portrayal of a desperate journey. I am glad I changed my mind and read it.
Book blurb
An extraordinary story of the lengths a mother will go to to save her son, AMERICAN DIRT has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. It’s time to read what you’ve been missing.
Lydia Perez owns a bookshop in Acapulco, Mexico, and is married to a fearless journalist. Luca, their eight-year-old son, completes the picture. But it only takes a bullet to rip them apart.
In a city in the grip of a drug cartel, friends become enemies overnight, and Lydia has no choice but to flee with Luca at her side. North for the border… whatever it takes to stay alive. The journey is dangerous – not only for them, but for those they encounter along the way. Who can be trusted? And what sacrifices is Lydia prepared to make?
1640s, Kate Ferrers is forced to marry a man who steals her fortune until she resorts to highway robbery to save her home. Present day, Charlie is trying to rebuild his life after being dumped by his girlfriend. But his new home is haunted by a ghostly presence…
The Wicked Lady is a dual timeline novel set during the English Civil War and the present day in Hertfordshire, UK.
Poor Kate is just a teenager when she is told she will marry a man she barely knows. Thomas is a Royalist and only wants her fortune which he quickly spends by giving to his king. Next he insists that Kate sell her childhood home and she begs him to reconsider. The only way she can make enough money to satisfy him is to commit highway robbery and put her life in danger. Charlie has been dumped so heads off for a fresh start renovating a house with his uncle. Along with one of his neighbours, he begins to sense a ghostly presence and together they research the area and discover the legend of the Wicked Lady before trying to separate the facts from the fiction.
The writing style is easy to read and the descriptions and dialogue allowed me to become immersed in both timelines. The author has done a lot of research about the history and geography of the region to bring the plot to life. I much preferred Kate’s parts of the book due to my love of history as well as the character’s inner strength against the adversity she faces. The spooky elements added an extra dimension to the plot and I enjoyed the romances in both timelines. I felt that the ending of the book didn’t resolve the ghost thread to my satisfaction.
The Wicked Lady is an enjoyable dual timeline novel and I loved the strong lead female character and historical aspects.
The Wicked Lady
‘Incredibly atmospheric, haunting and poignant.’ Nicola Cornick
1648 – Hertfordshire
Thirteen-year-old Katherine Ferrers is in despair at being betrothed to arch-Royalist Thomas Fanshawe whose family are hellbent on plundering her family’s fortune to champion the exiled Charles. As her unhappy marriage stretches before her, her only comfort is her beloved childhood home The Cell. But as the years pass and Kate grows restless, a new passion, a new love and a dangerous calling threaten to upend everything she’s ever known.
Present Day – Hertfordshire
Charlie Wolfe jumps at the chance to help his uncle renovate a tumbledown cottage overlooking Nomansland Common. Number One Constable’s Cottages was once the home of the man charged with ridding the common of the highwaymen who terrorised travellers. But it’s the story of The Wicked Lady, the notorious female highway robber, that captures Charlie’s imagination, and some long winters’ nights he’s sure he can the hoofbeats of her horse echoing across time.
What drove this mystery woman to risk everything for a life of crime, and why is she still restless, wandering the common in grief? It seems only Charlie can finally uncover the secret Katherine Ferrers has kept for hundreds of years; a secret of a terrible betrayal and a tragic love that was never meant to end this way…
USA Today bestselling author Judy Leigh writing as Elena Collins, brings you this spellbinding and heartbreaking timeslip novel, uncovering the intriguing story of another brave woman that history forgot. Perfect for fans of Barbara Erskine, Nicola Cornick, Diana Gabaldon and Louise Douglas.
Author Bio –
Elena Collins is the pseudonym for Judy Leigh. Judy Leigh is the bestselling author of Five French Hens , A Grand Old Time and The Age of Misadventure and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.
Social Media Links –
Facebook: @judyleighuk
Twitter: @JudyLeighWriter
Instagram: @judyrleigh
A school bully is found dead. Did he deliberately take aspirin that would kill him, was it given accidentally, or did someone swap the medications on purpose to kill?
The Murders at Fleat House is a police procedural centred around a boarding school. I wonder if it could have been the first book in a new series for this detective but unfortunately the author died before publication. The audiobook was narrated by Gemma Whelan who is a wonderful actor and has a fabulous voice which fully immersed me in the story.
Charlie was a popular and lively boy but also prone to bullying others. His sudden death is a shock: everyone knew of his life threatening allergy to aspirin so the police are called when it is unknown if the death is an accident, murder or suicide. Another character is then found dead and the police need to consider if there is a link between the two deaths.
The main detective is Jazz. She has resigned from the police force but her superior officer only put her on sabbatical. Now he calls on her to try to solve one last case before quitting. She is reeling from a messy divorce with a colleague but is determined to face the future so accepts leading the case.
There are a lot of characters as we explore the relationships and lives of the boys, the teachers, the police, and their families. A surprise confession is swiftly discounted and there are other red herrings to keep the reader guessing. I liked how the threads of the plot and subplots were woven together and was keen for Jazz to succeed and prove her ex wrong.
The Murders at Fleat House is an enjoyable police procedural novel with a great female lead detective.
Book blurb:
The Murders at Fleat House is a suspenseful and utterly compelling crime novel from the multi-million copy global bestseller, Lucinda Riley.
The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident.
But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London, but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss. Reunited with her loyal sergeant Alastair Miles, she enters the closed world of the school, and as Jazz begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death, events are soon to take another troubling turn.
Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully, and those around him had both motive and opportunity to switch the drugs he took daily to control his epilepsy. As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of young pupil Rory Millar and the death of an elderly Classics master provide Jazz with important leads, but are destined to complicate the investigation further. As snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her personal demons . . .
Then, a particularly grim discovery at the school makes this the most challenging murder investigation of her career. Because Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined . . .
